Stranger locks crying toddler in plane bathroom to 'discipline' them

"Passengers were using tissues to block their ears, I had to take action."

During a domestic flight in China recently, two passengers stirred controversy when they took a crying toddler away from her grandmother and locked her in the plane bathroom to "set some rules."

The incident became viral on Chinese social media after a woman, Gou Tingting, shared a video of herself and another passenger with the child inside the locked cubicle.

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Image: Sixth Tone

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"We will leave you here alone"

In the since-deleted clip, one of the women can be heard telling the crying infant, "If you make any noise again, we will leave you here alone. "

In the rest of her post, Gou tried to frame her actions as a heroic attempt to help her fellow passengers have a more pleasant flight.  

According to Gou, the girl's grandma was unable to control her granddaughter's crying, so she took matters into her own hands. 

"Many passengers were using tissues to block their ears," she explained, "and some had moved to the back of the plane to escape the noise."

So they took the child into the plane bathroom and threatened to not let her out until she stopped crying. 

"I prefer to take action rather than be a bystander," she concluded.

"I just wanted to calm the child down and let everyone rest."

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People filed police reports 

But commenters didn't see it in the same way, with many left completely shocked by the woman's behaviour.

Some people told her she "lacked empathy" while others went so far as to report her to the police, posting screenshots of filed police reports in the comments. 

According to Sixth Tone, Guizhou Airport Public Security Bureau declined to charge either of the women on the grounds that the girl's grandmother had allegedly permitted them to help discipline the child. 

Juneyao Airlines, which operated the flight where this took place, also confirmed that the grandmother was standing outside the toilet while this incident took place. 

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Originally published as Stranger locks crying toddler in plane bathroom to 'discipline' them